Nahum 1:10

For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. FOR WHILE THEY BE FOLDEN TOGETHER AS THORNS, [ `ad (H5704)] - literally, 'to the same degree as thorns' (cf. margin, 1 Chronicles 4:27). As thorns, so folded together and entangled that they cannot be without trouble loosed asunder, are thrown by the farmers all in a mass into the fire, so the Assyrians shall all be given together to destruction. Compare 2 Samuel 23:6, "The sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place," where also "thorns" are the image of the wicked....

He goes on with this same subject, — that Gods when he pleases to exercise his power, can, with no difficulty, consume his enemies: for the similitude, which is here added, means this, — that nothing is safe from God’s vengeance; for by perplexed thorns he understands things difficult to be handled. When thorns are entangled, we dare not, with the ends of our fingers, to touch their extreme parts; for wherever we put our hands, thorns meet and prick us. As then pricking from entangled thorns make us afraid, so none of us dare to come nigh them. Hence the Prophet says, they who are as _entangled thorns; _that is “However thorny ye may be, however full of poison, full of fury, full of wickedness, full of frauds, full of cruelty, ye may be, still the Lord can with one fire consume you, and consume you without any difficulty.” They were then as entangled thorns. And then, _as drunken by thei...

9-15 There is a great deal plotted against the Lord by the gates of hell, and against his kingdom in the world; but it will prove in vain. With some sinners God makes quick despatch; and one way or other, he will make an utter end of all his enemies. Though they are quiet, and many very secure, and not in fear, they shall be cut down as grass and corn, when the destroying angel passes through. God would hereby work great deliverance for his own people. But those who make themselves vile by scandalous sins, God will make vile by shameful punishments. The tidings of this great deliverance shall be welcomed with abundant joy. These words are applied to the great redemption wrought out by our Lord Jesus and the everlasting gospel, Romans 10:15. Christ's ministers are messengers of good tidings, that preach peace by Jesus Christ. How welcome to those who see their misery and danger by sin! A...

Verse Nahum 1:10. _WHILE_ THEY BE _FOLDEN TOGETHER_] However united their counsels may be, they shall be as _drunken men_-perplexed and unsteady in all their resolutions; and before God's judgments they shall be as _dry thorns_ before a devouring fire....

FOR WHILE THEY BE LEIDEN TOGETHER AS THORNS - that is, as confused, intertwined, sharp, piercing, hard to be touched, rending and tearing whosoever would interfere with its tangled ways, and seemingly compact together and strong; “and while they are drunken as their drink” , not “drinkers” only but literally, “drunken,” swallowed up, as it were, by their drink which they had swallowed, mastered, overcome, powerless, “they shall be derogated as stubble fully dry” , rapidly, in an instant, with an empty crackling sound, unresisting, as having nothing in them which can resist. Historically, the great defeat of the Assyrians, before the capture of Nineveh, took place while its king, flushed with success, was giving himself to listlessness; and having distributed to his soldiers victims, and abundance of wine, and other necessaries for banqueting, the whole army was negligent and drunken.” In...

EXPOSITION NAHUM 1:1 Part I. THE JUDGMENT UPON NINEVEH DECREED BY GOD. NAHUM 1:1 § 1. _The heading of the book. _The book has a double title, the first giving the object of the prophecy, which otherwise would not be evident; the second, its author, added to give confidence in its contents. THE BURDEN; _massa _(Habakkuk 1:1)—a term generally used of a weighty, threatening prophecy (Isaiah 13:1), though translated by the LXX. λ

FOR WHILE [THEY BE] FOLDEN TOGETHER [AS] THORNS,.... Like them, useless and unprofitable, harmful and pernicious, fit only for burning, and, being bundled together, are prepared for it; and which is not only expressive of the bad qualities of the Ninevites, and of the danger they were in, and what they deserved; but of the certainty of their ruin, no more being able to save themselves from it, than a bundle of thorns from the devouring fire: AND WHILE THEY ARE DRUNKEN [AS] DRUNKARDS; dead drunk, no more able to help themselves than a drunken man that is fallen; or who were as easily thrown down as a drunken man is with the least touch; though there is no need to have recourse to a figurative sense, since the Ninevites were actually drunk when they were attacked by their enemy, as the historian relates i; that the king of Assyria being elated with his fortune, and thinking himself secure...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS CHAPTER 1 The Purpose of God in Dealing with the Assyrian Oppressor _ 1. The superscription (Nahum 1:1) _ 2. Jehovah's majesty in judgment (Nahum 1:2) 3. His people comforted and assured (Nahum 1:7) 4. The judgment of Assyria and the result (Nahum 1:14) Nahum 1:1. The burden of Nineveh; it means that there is to follow a weighty prophetic oracle concerning the great world city of Nineveh whose dimensions are given by Jonah, which have been confirmed by excavations. The next sentence gives us the definite i

THE AVENGING WRATH OF YAHWEH. Yahweh is a jealous and vengeful God sensitive to the honour of Himself and His people who marcheth through whirlwind and storm to save them from the enemy. Before His presence sea and rivers dry up, Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon wither, the mountains quake and the earth itself is upheaved. How then can mortal man face the glow of His anger? To such as trust in Him He is a stronghold in the day of trouble; but His adversaries He thrusteth into darkness, taking not vengeance twice, but making a full end of them and all their devices. Though for a time He may remain silent, He is storing up wrath against them; and all of them shall be mown down like thorns, or burnt in the fire as stubble. NAHUM 1:2 B (the N stanza) ought clearly to follow Nahum 1:9_ a_, while...

FOLDEN. entangled. THORNS. The emblem of hostile armies (Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 27:4)....